One held for catalytic converter theft in BKC

Mumbai: A case of catalytic converter theft, a racket that is fast gaining traction worldwide, was registered at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police station on Sunday

Mumbai: A case of catalytic converter theft, a racket that is fast gaining traction worldwide, was registered at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police station on Sunday. The converters are considered hot properties on the black market, as they have components made of several precious metals like platinum, rhodium and palladium which, when extracted, sell as high as ₹3,000 per gram.

One held for catalytic converter theft in BKC

According to the BKC police, the FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by Swapnil Sawant, an area manager with DR Mobility Solutions. The Goregaon-based firm provides drivers to various automobile service centres to pick up and drop off the vehicles of their customers.

The police said that one of the clients that D R Mobility Solutions caters to is Shaman Cars, a Honda service centre based in Kalina. The firm provides four drivers to the service centre and Sawant checks their performance regularly.

“On September 20, a new driver identified as Pulkit Devpura (39) joined Sawant’s firm and was assigned to Shaman Cars on September 22. On 28 September, Sawant received a call from an employee at Shaman Cars, who asked him to come down to meet him,” said an officer with the BKC police station.

Accordingly, Sawant went to the service centre where the employee told him that Devpura had from September 22 to September 28 picked up and dropped a total of 15 cars and catalytic converters from six of those cars were found missing after they were dropped off at the service centre.

Catalytic converters are attached to silencers of four-wheelers and connected to the engine. They serve the purpose of minimising the sound emitted by the exhaust while the car is being driven. Converters are in high demand among gangs that steal parts from vehicles, because of the precious metals that some of the components are made from and it only takes around 30 seconds to detach the converters from vehicles.

Sawant immediately contacted Devpura, who said that his aunt had passed away and he was currently in Rajasthan for her last rites. Sawant waited for Devpura to come back and on Saturday, as soon as he returned, confronted him and subsequently took him to the BKC police station.

The police, after recording Sawant’s, registered a case against Devpura and arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning. Devpura was charged with criminal breach of trust by an employee under the Indian Penal Code.

Police forces in several countries have sounded alerts about the fast-growing racket that first surfaced in the United States of America. In April this year, the Pune police had arrested two accused for a string of such thefts and last month, two persons were arrested for similar crimes in Vadodara. The Indore police, too, had cautioned residents last month after noticing a rise in thefts of catalytic converters from parked cars in their jurisdiction.

“We are currently interrogating Devpura to find out who he sold the converters to so that they can be recovered and the buyers arrested. We suspect that he is part of a larger racket and are also checking if he has similar cases registered against him in Mumbai or in other cities,” said the officer.